Rundown from Day of Reckoning …
Saturday’s final day of regular-season games for many teams saw Clemson complete its sweep of Florida State to win the ACC Atlanic Division title … N.C. State and BC claimed the final two spots in the ACC Tournament during … while Louisville, The Citadel, FAU and Texas State secured #1 seeds in their respective conferences (BIG EAST, SoCon, Southland and Sunbelt). (front-page photo courtesy of The Citadel)
CLICK HERE for CB360’s top-50 wrapup page from Thursday (May 20)
CLICK HERE for CB360’s top-50 wrapup page from Friday (May 21)
CLICK HERE for NCAA Division II Baseball Tournament coverage
CLICK HERE for NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament coverage
Boston College’s 6-3, series-ending upset of Georgia Tech (#8 in the CB360 Composite National Rankings) played a dual role in qualifying the Eagles for the ACC postseason. BC and North Carolina (which finished its sweep of #21 Va. Tech, 10-2) tied for the 8th and final spot (13-16) and the tiebreaker extended to the third criteria. The teams did not meet head-to-head during 2010 and both were swept by regular-season champion Virginia. The tiebreaker then fell to head-to-head vs. the team with 2nd-best win pct. (Ga. Tech) … and UNC was swept by GT, while BC’s win on Saturday sent the Eagles to the ACC Championship.
To inch past #19 Connecticut atop the BIG EAST standings, #7 Louisville needed to sweep its doubleheader at Notre Dame and hope for Seton Hall to upset the Huskies. The Cardinals took care of the sweep (4-3 in the 7-inning game, then 13-3 in the finale) and the Pirates – who earlier this season upset Louisville and Pitt in game-3 – edged the Huskies, 3-2. Louisville was down to its final out in the first and second games of the series at ND but snatched away the wins to ultimately emerge as the BIG EAST #1 seed.
The Citadel (cb360 #43) finished off its resumed game at Georgia Southern on Saturday (7-2) to secure the outright Southern Conference regular-season title. #49 Texas State similarly won the Southland, thanks to its 8-0 win over Texas Arlington. #37 Florida Atlantic (a 14-10 winner over Florida International) and #39 Louisiana-Lafayette (won 13-1 for sweep at Louisiana-Monroe) finished in a tie atop the Sunbelt standings, with FAU earning the #1 seed on the head-to-head tiebreaker.
There were 11 upsets of CB360 top-50 teams on Saturday, with several top teams resting some of their regulars for the upcoming postseason. In addition to the aforementioned wins by BC, Seton Hall and UNC, the top-50 upsets included the following: at #9 South Carolina 11, #4 Florida 6 … at #24 Clemson 8, #10 Florida State 3 … UAB 8, at #22 Rice 5 … UC Riverside 15, at #26 UC Irvine 12 … Mississippi State 2, at #29 LSU 1 … Northwestern (La.) State 10, at #34 Southeastern Louisiana 7 … at Winthrop 8, #46 Liberty 5 … and Memphis 10, at #50 Southern Mississippi 8.
Clemson stunningly won all three games with FSU to finish tied with the Seminoles atop the ACC Atlanic (the Tigers earned the ACC #2 seed thanks to the head-to-head edge vs. FSU). Irvine – which entered the week with a comparatively low official NCAA RPI (#52) – has to now be considered in bubble territory and certainly could use a win over Riverside in Sunday’s finale.
Southeastern Louisiana had a strong first half of the season, but the Lions were swept by a Northwestern State squad that finished second in the Southland (SELA placed third and is only 16-14 during April/May). The losses by Liberty (its second of the Winthrop series) and Southern Miss similarly could be costly to both of those teams and their hopes for NCAA at-large spots, should they not win their conference tournaments.
Saturday saw the continuation and/or completion of 11 head-to-head matchups between CB360 top-50 teams (some mentioned above, plus): at #1 Arizona State 6, #41 Oregon State 5 … #2 Virginia 7, at #13 Miami 4 … #6 UCLA 12, at #30 California 4 … #14 Arkansas 7, at #15 Vanderbilt 5 (series clincher) … #16 Auburn at #17 Mississippi (sweep) … at #25 Arizona 9, #35 Stanford 8 (series tied) … at #31 Texas A&M 10, #32 Kansas State 2 (series tied) … and #33 Alabama 9, at #48 Tennessee 7 (sweep).
SATURDAY’S TOP-50 RESULTS (5/22/10)
(based on CB360’s Composite National Rankings)
• at #1 Arizona State 6, #41 Oregon State 5 (series clincher/2-0) | Final Stats
ASU Recap | OrSt Recap
• #2 Virginia 7, at #13 Miami 4 (series clincher/2-1) | Final Stats
VA Recap | MIA Recap
• #3 Texas 6, at Missouri 4 (series clincher/2-0) | Final Stats
TX Recap | MO Recap
• at #9 South Carolina 11, #4 Florida 6 (FL won series) | Final Stats
SC Recap | FL Recap | Quotes
• #5 Coastal Carolina at Radford – canceled (no makeup)
• #6 UCLA 12, at #30 California 4 (series clincher/2-1) | Final Stats
UCLA Recap | Cal Recap
• #7 Louisville 4, at Notre Dame 3 (7 inn.; series clincher/2-0) | Final Stats
LOU Recap | ND Recap
• #7 Louisville 13, at Notre Dame 3 (7 inn.; series sweep) | Final Stats
LOU Recap | ND Recap | Photos (LOU)
• at Boston Colllege 6, #8 Georgia Tech 3 (GT won series/2-1) | Final Stats
BC Recap | GT Recap
• at #24 Clemson 8, #10 Florida State 3 (series sweep) | Final Stats
CLEM Recap | FSU Recap
• at #11 Cal State Fullerton 6, Santa Clara 4 (series clincher/2-0) | Final Stats
CSF Recap | SCU Recap
• at #12 TCU 7, Cal State Bakersfield 0 (series sweep) | Final Stats
TCU Recap | CSB Recap
• #14 Arkansas 7, at #15 Vanderbilt 5 (series clincher/2-1) | Final Stats
ARK Recap | VAN Recap | Postgame Notes
• #16 Auburn 11, at #17 Mississippi 1 (series sweep) | Final Stats
AUB Recap | OleMiss Recap
• #18 Oklahoma 8, at Kansas 7 (series clincher/2-0 | Final Stats
OU Recap | KU Recap
• Seton Hall 3, at #19 Connecticut 2 (UConn won series/2-1) | Final Stats
SHU Recap | UConn Recap
• #20 San Diego 6, at Pepperdine 3 (series tied) | Final Stats
USD Recap | PEP Recap
• at #40 North Carolina 10, #21 Virginia Tech 2 (series sweep) | Final Stats
UNC Recap | VT Recap | Photos
• UAB 8, at #22 Rice 5 (Rice won series/2-1) | Final Stats
UAB Recap | Rice Recap
• #23 Oregon 5, at Washington 2 (series tied) | Final Stats
ORE Recap | WA Recap | Blog Recap (ORE)
• at #25 Arizona 9, #35 Stanford 8 (series tied) | Final Stats
AZ Recap | STAN Recap
• UC Riverside 15, at #26 UC Irvine 12 (12 inn.; series tied) | Final Stats
UCR Recap | UCI Recap
• at #27 College of Charleston 10, UNC Wilmington 8 (split 2 gms) | Final Stats
CofC Recap | UNCW Recap
• at #28 Washington State 18, USC 4 (series clincher/2-0) | Final Stats
WSU Recap | USC Recap
• Mississippi State 2, at #29 LSU 1 (LSU won series) | Final Stats
MS Recap | LSU Recap | Video HiLites
• at #31 Texas A&M 10, #32 Kansas State 2 (series tied) | Final Stats
A&M Recap | K-St. Recap | Photos
• #33 Alabama 9, at #48 Tennessee 7 (series sweep) | Final Stats
ALA Recap | TN Recap
• Northwestern (La.) St. 10, at #34 Southeastern Louisiana 7 (series sweep)
Final Stats | NWLA Recap | SELA Recap
• #36 New Mexico 7, at Utah 6 (series tied) | Final Stats
NM Recap | Utah Recap
• #36 New Mexico at Utah – canceled (no makeup)
• at #37 Florida Atlantic 14, Florida International 10 (series clincher/2-1)
Final Stats | FAU Recap | FIU Recap
• #38 Kentucky 14, at Georgia 11 (GA won series) | Final Stats
KY Recap | GA Recap
• #39 Louisiana-Lafayette 13, at Louisiana-Monroe 1 (series sweep)
Final Stats | UL-L Recap | UL-M Recap
• #43 The Citadel 7, at Georgia Southern 2 (completion of suspended game)
(series clincher/2-0) | Final Stats | CIT Recap | GS Recap
• #43 The Citadel 5, at Georgia Southern 2 (series sweep) | Final Stats
CIT Recap | GS Recap
• at Winthrop 8, #46 Liberty 5 (series clincher/2-1) | Final Stats
WIN Recap | LIB Recap
• at #47 Western Kentucky 15, Middle Tennessee State 5 (7 inn.; series tied)
Final Stats | WKU Recap | MTSU Recap
• at #49 Texas State 8, Texas Arlington 6 (series clincher/2-1) | Final Stats
TxSt Recap | UTA Recap
• Memphis 10, at #50 Southern Mississippi 8 (series tied) | Final Stats
MEM Recap | SoMiss Recap
• at #50 Southern Mississippi 5, Memphis 3 (series clincher/2-1) | Final Stats
SoMiss Recap | MEM Recap | Photos